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Court Extends Custody for Raja, Balwa

By

R. Jai Krishna

Feb. 14, 2011 7:03 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI – An Indian court Monday agreed to extend police custody for former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja by another three days, as part of an ongoing corruption probe involving alleged irregularities in the allocation of telecom spectrum.

The court also remanded
Shahid Balwa,
vice chairman of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt., in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation for four more days. The CBI had named Etisalat, earlier known as Swan Telecom Pvt., as one of the companies that have benefited from these alleged irregularities.

In a submission to the court, the federal probe agency said Mr. Raja and Mr. Balwa's extended custody was needed to help shed further light on the "money trail" related to the telecom licensing scam.

India's former telecom minister A. Raja pictured as he was escorted by CBI officials after an appearance in a New Delhi court on February 10, 2011.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

"On the face of it, the crime is enormous in nature and its investigation is time consuming," said judge
OP Saini,
while remanding Mr. Raja and Mr. Balwa to more days in CBI custody.

The CBI has been scrutinizing the government's 2008 sale of mobile phone licenses and bandwidth at prices that were far below their market value. The agency estimates the government lost more than $4.88 billion of potential revenue due to the irregularities. This is a lot lower than a separate estimate given late last year by a government auditor, which said the flawed process had cost India up to $40 billion in potential revenue. The allegations led to the resignation of Mr. Raja as telecom minister last November.

Mr. Raja was arrested on Feb. 2, along with two former aides--R.K. Chandolia and former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura--who are currently in judicial custody. Mr. Balwa was arrested by the agency Feb. 8. All have denied any wrongdoing.

On Monday India's telecom regulator has also asked a panel of experts to assess the market value of spectrum given to telecom companies between 2001 and 2008. This followed a request placed by the CBI.

"We have asked the panel, which worked out the latest pricing of spectrum, also to work on the pricing of spectrum given from 2001," said a top regulatory official.

A CBI official, who is directly involved in the issue, confirmed that such a request had been made to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

No time frame has been set for the report to be submitted, both people said. The CBI, however, is scheduled to file its charge sheet in the case no later than March 31, 2011. The probe is being monitored by the Supreme Court.

Court Extends Custody for Raja, Balwa

NEW DELHI – An Indian court Monday agreed to extend police custody for former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja by another three days, as part of an ongoing corruption probe involving alleged irregularities in the allocation of telecom spectrum.